Paulo Jose

Paulo José was born in Lavras do Sul, a small town in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, in 1937. He moved to Porto Alegre as a teenager, where he started his artistic career in theater, joining the Teatro de Equipe, a group of young actors that included Paulo César Pereio, Lilian Lemmertz, Ítala Nandi and Fernando Peixoto. He later moved to São Paulo, where he became part of the Teatro de Arena, a revolutionary theater company that staged socially relevant plays by Brazilian authors, such as Gianfrancesco Guarnieri, Augusto Boal and Oduvaldo Vianna Filho. He also worked as a director and writer, adapting works by Brecht, Maquiavel and Molière. He made his film debut in 1966, in the classic O Padre e a Moça, directed by Joaquim Pedro de Andrade, playing the role of a young priest who falls in love with a girl in a rural town. He went on to star in many other films, such as Todas as Mulheres do Mundo, Macunaíma, O Homem Nu, O Palhaço and A Hora e a Vez de Augusto Matraga. He won several awards for his film work, including the Kikito de Ouro at the Gramado Film Festival and the Candango Trophy at the Brasília Film Festival. He also had a prolific career in television, working in many telenovelas, miniseries and humor programs. He debuted in 1969, in Véu de Noiva, written by Janete Clair. He became famous for his roles as Samuca in Assim na Terra Como no Céu, Shazan in O Primeiro Amor and Shazan, Xerife e Cia., and Odorico Paraguaçu in O Bem Amado, all written by Dias Gomes. He also participated in other successful shows, such as O Casarão, Roda de Fogo, O Tempo e o Vento, Armação Ilimitada, Roque Santeiro, Rainha da Sucata, Deus nos Acuda and Por Amor. He received many honors for his television work, such as the Troféu Imprensa, the Prêmio Contigo and the Prêmio Extra de Televisão. He was married five times and had four children, all of them actors. He suffered from Parkinson's disease for more than 20 years, which limited his ability to work in his later years. He died in 2021, at the age of 84, due to pneumonia. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered in the sea, as he wished. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most versatile actors in Brazilian history, and an inspiration for many generations of artists.